Harry Potter and the story of Dudley
by 123irish
Summary: What happens after Dudley and family leave Privit Dr., this might just fill in some of the missing pieces, than again maybe not? Please read and review and check out the follow up one shot Harry Potter and Dudley at the Train station.


Dudley watched Harry out the back window as he, his parents and the two witches drove away from #4 Privot Dr. As the car turned the corner they were no longer in Little Surrey, but were driving along a quite country road. Startled Dudley looked at his parents to see if they had noticed. They had, Vernon was purple from holding his breath, while his mother, Petunia, had her eyes shut and her mouth open in a silent scream.

After several minutes they'd all calmed down enough to be curious as to where they were and where they were going. They were told that their new home was to be a cottage in the town of St. David's in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Several minutes later they pulled up to a gated drive and were told that all three needed to go to the gate. As each member of the family touched the gate it swung open and the car drove though. Dudley asked what had happened and was told that the gate was enchanted, but now knew them and would allow them entry while providing security for the family.

Up the drive they went to what appeared to be a relatively standard two story cottage style house. They were given the keys and told that a surprise awaited them upon entering. Not ones for surprises the Dursley's slowly unlocked the door and entered their new home. Their mouths hung open as they stared at the furnishings of the new house, or to be more accurate their furnishing from their old house had been brought to the new house. Everything was there, from Petunia's perfectly polished kitchen, to the boards still covering the fireplace. It didn't look like theirs from the outside, but inside it was home.

Vernon was given the deed to the property; it came with the house and 20 acres of land. They were also told that enough money had been added to their bank account that Vernon never had to work again. They explained that Dudley had already been enrolled in Ysgol Dewi Sant and they would be expecting him that following Monday. They were also told that if there was any trouble they should make their way to St. David's Cathedral as it had been a place of magical protection since it was built around 589 AD.

The next couple of years were fairly uneventful, the family adjusted to their rural life. Vernon found he was the one with a green thumb and quite liked working with the land; becoming a gentleman farmer and selling his surplus at the local farmers market. Petunia became involved in the local government, nothing to visible, fund raisers, the school boards, and stuff along that line. She still liked to collect gossip and these activities allowed her free reign in the town. Dudley completed school with just minor fallbacks to his old behaviors, and decided to continue on at the University of Wales Trinity St David's – Carmarthen campus, about an hour away along the A40, and work on a degree in Management and Information Technology. This is where things took an interesting and quite unexpected turn for Dudley.

Her name was Penelope Mathieu and after completing her secondary education in her native France (Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Muggle studies, receiving top grades in her R.E.I.N.E's, Really Extreme Incredibly Nasty Exams ), decided to also go to the Carmarthen campus to study acting in their Performing Arts program. Penny was rather tall with an athlete's build and shoulder length black hair, sparkling brown eyes and a mouth that always seemed to have a smile on it. Their first meeting was the first day of classes and as it was very windy both had their heads down and walked into each other knocking Penny to the ground. Dudley helped her up, apologized and was beginning to turn away when she spoke, in perfect English with a light French accent, "No, it is alright, I'm the one who should be sorry, if I had been paying a bit more attention to where I was going instead of just rushing about this could have been avoided." "Hi I'm Penelope, Penny to my friends." Dudley took in Penny for the first time and smiled then, accepting the offered hand, he responded with the ever so witty "I'm Dudley; my friends call me Dudley, not really a shorter version…. Anyway I'm rambling right now and really need to get to class, hope to see you around Penny." With that exchange their first meeting was over.

Over the next couple of weeks they kept running into one another, at the book store, the coffee shop, even just around campus. It got to the point that they would keep an eye out for each other and even wait if they thought they were early. Eventually Dudley came to realize that these "chance" meetings were more than just accidents and the next time they met he asked Penny out for a coffee that Friday night. Penny accepted and leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, excused herself and made her way to her class. Penny looked back and laughed a little as Dudley was still standing there; slack jawed, with a smile on his face staring after her.

That Friday they met in front of the Pethau Da after classes for some coffee or tea and a light snack and just to get to know one another better. Dudley told her all about his youth, only mentioning it in passing that his cousin had to live with them because his parents had been killed. Not even saying Harry's name until talking about how the family move and how they had to leave Harry behind for his and their protection. Penny asked why his cousin needed protection, Dudley told her that some man named Volgurnaught, or something like that had been after him, but that had been several years ago and he thought that Harry was okay now though they had not had much contact with each other recently. Penny's eyes opened wide as she heard the names Voldemort and Harry in the same sentence and interrupted him by asking, "Harry…, you're not saying that your cousin is Harry Potter are you"?

Cautiously Dudley asked how and why Penny knew his cousin Harry. He instantly recognized the wand Penny discretely pulled from her bag, and his hands went to his behind as some of his old fears returned. As Penny cast a silence and notice-me-not spell Dudley almost fell out of his chair and said in a voice barely above a whisper "You're a Witch"? "Please sit down and let me explain Dudley" she pleaded. Dudley sat back down, but kept a nervous eye on both her wand and the door. "I was at Hogwarts five years ago when Harry was in the Tri-Wizard Tournament". "The WHAT!" stammered Dudley? "It was a contest where Harry had to do all these crazy stunts that could have killed him, one boy did die". "You really don't know what I'm talking about do you" Dudley could only shake his head no and ask Penny to continue.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament pitted the Champions from three different schools, in this case Hogwarts, Draumstring, and my school Beauxbatons, in three extremely hard tasks to find the best wizard and promote friendship and understanding between the schools". "There was supposed to be three champions, one from each school chosen but someone put Harry's name in under a different school and he became the fourth champion, and anyone with half a brain could have told you that Harry had not entered his own name as scared as he looked when his name was drawn". "The first task was dragons, and Harry got a Hungarian Horntail, quite possibly the most dangerous dragon known, and he out flew it on his broom; it was very scary and he was almost killed but was also the fastest to finish the task".

Dudley just stared at the girl sitting with him, "What, what happened after that", he mumbled. Penny told him about the second and third tasks and how Harry rescued her cousin from the bottom of the lake even though she was not his to rescue. Then in the third task, how at the end, he had reappeared with another Champion who had been killed by Voldemort and somehow Harry had defeated him and returned the body to his parents. Dudley was stunned and told Penny, "Harry never told us what happened, not that my parents would have listened then. All he told us was that when he turned seventeen that whatever protection that our family had given him would end and the bad guys would then come after us to try to get to him". It had gotten late and as they prepared to go their separate ways Dudley asked Penny if she would like to go out on a real date either Saturday or Sunday. Penny smiled and told him that the rest of this weekend was a wash as she had to return home for a family function, but that the next several weekends after that were open. She kissed him on the cheek again and after a brief hug told him she would see him on Monday.

Things with Penny were progressing rather well with so it was only natural that a couple of weeks later they had their first blow up as a couple. Dudley decided that if things were to get serious with Penny that she needed to know all about him and his family, one Saturday night he sat her down and told her everything he could thing of about his family right through him going to therapy for his anger issues. Penny, for her part, patiently listened as Dudley spoke; getting more upset the longer he spoke. Finally, two hours later, Dudley finished and having seen how upset Penny had become waited for her to explode at him. She never did, she wanted to rage at the imbecile in front of her, tell him how Harry had saved all of their lives not because he had to but because it was the right thing to do. She told him "I talked to my Cousins during and after the Tournament and Fleur's opinion of Harry Potter had changed from that of an attention seeking little boy to that of a brave young man thrown into an impossible situation and dealing with it better than anyone should. Now you're telling me that after all that he had to go home and face even more abuse. I'm sorry Dudley, I really like you but right now I can't be with you, please give me a little time and we'll see where we stand in a couple of weeks". Penny then stood and made her way out of Dudley's small apartment to her own home.

The next two weeks were hard on Dudley, he and Penny continued to run into each other but the meetings were all cordial not the looked forward to events they once were. After the couple of weeks were up Dudley called Penny and asked if she would like to go out and talk about what had happened and gratefully, joyfully, THANKFULLY, Penny said yes. After sitting down in their favorite coffee shop Penny proceeded to tell him, "As much as I care for you, I was prepared to walk away after what you told me. To be that uncaring to someone placed in your home for their protection was unforgiveable, but after talking to my parents and Cousins (Fleur and Gabby) they explained how much you must care to have exposed yourself to me in such a way. If you were willing to do that knowing I might leave, then, and I know we've only known each other a short time but, I have only one thing to say to you Dudley Dursley I love you too! With all your silly flaws and all, please don't change from the good man you've become and I will always be by your side".

Relief flooded through Dudley and he released the breath he never even realized he had been holding. The next six months seemed to fly as he brought Penny home to meet his parents and then Dudley and his family were asked to go to France to vacation and meet the Mathieu's. At this point Vernon and Petunia still did not know that Penny was a witch, but that changed when Dudley proposed and Penny said yes.

Both were nervous as they entered the Dursley's home, but Dudley had already asked Penny to allow him to speak for the both of them; he was fairly certain that his mother would not care anymore however he was sure that somewhere deep inside his father still carried a grudge against Magicals. As they moved into the living room and Vernon and Petunia took their seats Dudley began, "Mom and Dad, we have something to tell you, I've asked Penny to marry me and she has graciously accepted". Vernon and Petunia were up in a flash congratulating the couple and Vernon asking Petunia to find the bottle they had put away for a special occasion. When Petunia returned Dudley stopped her from opening the bottle for a minute by telling her, "Mom, there's something else we have to tell you, NO Penny is not expecting, but it does have to do with future children. Any children we have may be "special". That's not the right word, the right word is magical, Penny is a Witch so all our children will have the potential to be either witches or wizards as well". Both parents sat back heavily in their chairs and you could see the expressions warring on their faces. After several quiet minutes Petunia got up from her chair and went over to Penny, giving her just as warm a hug as she had always given the girl. This brought a smile to Penny and Dudley's faces, but now all eyes turned to Vernon. Finally Vernon got out of his chair, and looking at the three happy people, turned and walked out of the room. Dudley was devastated, "Mom, what just happened? Please don't tell me that Dad's still angry at Harry. Harry saved our lives; Harry made me a better person. Mom I'm marrying Penny wither Dad is there or not, I'd much rather he was there so if you could talk to him that would be great". "Don't worry Dudley; your father will come around just give me a little time to work on him. Now help me with this cork so that I can toast the happy couple". The three celebrated and talked about wedding plans for a couple of hours, all of them lost in the happiness of the occasion.

Six months later, with Penny's uncle officiating their wedding, the happy couple tied the knot in a "Magical" (Marge's word though she would never find out that it was truly a Magical event or that there were real witches in the family) ceremony in France. On the Grooms side it was just his Mother, Father and Aunt Marge. While the Bride had her Mother, Father and little sister along with her Uncle (officiating), Aunt and cousins (Fleur and Gabby), It was kept small at the request of the Bride and Groom. They would have a slightly bigger ceremony when they got back to Wales as most of their friends would be out of school by then and would be able to attend the festivities.


End file.
